White Fire
by ShadowBird
Summary: UPDATED! 9-10-03;The Southern Lands have fallen. If you though things were bad before, you are sadly mistaken. The young demon has discovered this. He must now set out to find a way to prevent his own failure from destroying everyone else...
1. Prologue to Choas

"Yes, I won't repeat myself again! A white dog demon, like yourself; only taller, looking exactly like the Western Lord Sesshoumaru, except with ears like yours and a tail! Now put me down! Please!"  
"Put him down, Inuyasha!"  
"When I feel like it!"  
"SIT!"   
"UMMMPH!"  
The startled human stared at the hanyou crumpled on the ground in a heap.  
"You truly are a great witch!"  
Kagome blushed. "Uh...thanks?"  
"No! thank you!" the human said, hurrying off.  
"AARRRRGGGGH! Waddid ya do that for?!" Inuyasha screamed.  
"Methinks you deserved it." Miroku commented.  
"Yeah,you deserve it." Shippo parroted.  
"And I think you deserve this!" Inuyasha said, pounding Shippo across the back of the head.  
"Don't you think we should look into the matter of this other demon? That old man said he had some pieces of the Shikon Jewel. I think you'd be in a hurry to investigate, Inuyasha." Sango said.  
"Huh? Uh..oh yeah! Like I said, let's go get those jewel shards!"   
Kagome sighed, "Ok, just let me go back to my time to get my stuff." 


	2. Tetsusaiga,Tenseiga,and Hinosaiga

CHAPTER 1:   
Tetsusaiga, Tenseiga, and Hinosaiga  
  
Note: Inuyasha and Co. do not belong to me; but Sesshyo and Sia are mine, and if you want to use them in your story, you have to ask me, and if I say yes, give credit where credit is due.  
The Western roads were very empty this time of year.  
Only a small group was seen for miles. And what a strange group it was!  
A tall beautiful demon, dressed in a rich kimono, with a fluffy cloak draped over his shoulder, and black armor decorated with fangs of other demons; a short lesser demon in drab rags, carrying a headed staff; and a small human child, humming quietly, weaving a flower necklace.   
The tall demon had a sword tucked in the yellow sash he had tied around his waist. Although he didn't speak, this sword seemed to be the object of his pondering; he fingered the ornate hand guard, obviously deep in thought.  
"Tenseiga." he muttered, golden eyes narrowing. His companions looked up, startled by the soft voice that stirred the silence that hung over the western road.  
"Tenseiga, Tetsusaiga, and Hinosaiga."  
"Excuse me, master, but what exactly are you talking about? Tenseiga is your sword, and Tetsusaiga belongs to that despicable Inuyasha, but what is this Hinosaiga you speak of?" the lesser demon squeaked.  
The high-pitched voice of the small green demon seemed to snap the white-haired demon out of his daze. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Jaken.  
"Perhaps we should stop for a while. This long journey seems to be unsettling you."  
"Oh, no,no,no, master Sesshoumaru! I, uh, well, you see, I think we should stop for the girls sake! She seems very tired!" Jaken said hastily, glancing back at the girl Rin, who showed no signs of exhaustion.  
"Do you wish to stop?" Sesshoumaru asked the girl.  
"Only if my lord wishes." she replied. She was obviously tired, discerning from the waver in her voice, but she was hiding it, not wanting to delay her lord by requesting to stop. Sesshoumaru would have smiled at the irony of it, if he would lower himself to do such a common thing as smile; a common, human child was more loyal to him than a member of his court.  
"We'll stop for tonight. The council can wait."  
Actually, if he was late the council wouldn't wait for him, but the meeting was still a week away; they had plenty of time, even at this slow pace. Besides, the seat of the Western lands was the closest to the meeting site of the council.  
It would take the other seven lords allot longer to reach the Stone Peak, location of the council. He wondered distractedly if Inuyasha, who was now the Eastern lord, would be there; he doubted it. But he might show. Who knew?  
Inuyasha himself might not know until the day before the meeting, when he'd suddenly make up his mind to go, then have to race full speed for two solid days just to get there on the day of the meeting. Sesshoumaru looked up to see Rin race back to camp carrying a string of fish, smiling proudly. Sesshoumaru hated fish, but he stomached them for the girl, not wanting to hurt her feelings; though he couldn't think of a reason why that would bother him.   
After Rin finished eating she started working on her flower necklace again, whenever they went somewhere were she could get he hands on enough flowers, she made one of these necklaces; what she didn't tell her lord was that she made because they reminded her of him; the slightly flowery smell, and the beauty of them; though mean Jaken said they were ugly, and should not disgrace their master by forcing him to be in the presence of them, though she knew Jaken didn't really know or not if they insulted their master. Rin didn't really think so; if she had, she would've stopped making them. Not only had Sesshoumaru-sama brought her back from the dead, he had given her a home when she had no one. She tried her best to please Lord Sesshoumaru, trying to prove that she wasn't a weak human like the others the had met, like the uncivilized, rag-tag group that stayed with Lord Inuyasha. Not that they were exactly weak, and Kagome was pretty nice. She finished her necklace, and laid it on the ground beside her. Jaken was already snoring loudly (and annoyingly), but Lord Sesshoumaru was still awake, staring into the fire. She looked at him for a moment, then mumbled a good night, which he didn't respond to but she knew he heard. A moment later she was fast asleep.  
"Good night." Sesshoumaru whispered.  
******  
The white-haired demon raced through the night like a ghost, his cat-like ears pricked, listening for strange noises that sometimes made their presence known.  
His long, silken, white tail stretched out behind him like a flag, flicking around every once and a while to keep himself balanced as he raced through the trees. His black, red trimmed kimono fluttered in the speed of his flight, going tight around his body showing how slender he really was. His sword banged into his leg every now and then, an annoying, but useful reminder that is was, indeed, still there, slipped through the blue sash around his waist. His silver armor glinted in the dappled moonlight, the white fangs on the shoulder pieces shining like polished marble. His violet-tinted golden eyes gleamed in the starlight, elliptic pupils huge and round taking in the scenery of the Center Land. He had traveled at least two hundred miles from the seat of the Southern Lands, Black Lake, making the trip in only a day and a half. He smiled, showing double sets of fangs in his top jaw, one of two visible clues that he wasn't full Dog.  
Actually, he was only a fourth White Dog; he was also half White Wolf, and a fourth Cat. His father was the Great Dog Lord Sessbinshi, who was half wolf/half dog; and his mother was the White Wolf clan warrior Hinosha, half wolf/half cat.  
Mutt, or no, he was still the most powerful demon in the Southern Lands, his sword, Hinosaiga, slicing into ribbons the unfortunate demon who said otherwise.  
Hinosaiga was given to him by his father at the same time his brother Sess was given his; though unlike Sesshoumaru, the young demon was delighted with his sword, the Fire-Breathing Fang; crafted, not from his fathers fang, those had been used for Tetsusaiga and Tenseiga, but from his grandfathers fang; Lord Sesski, the leader of the White Wolves. The Fire Fang couldn't slay a hundred demons with one stroke, nor could it revive a hundred people with another.  
But Hinosaiga could snatch away the souls of a hundred unlucky victims in one swing. Of course with a bit more effort you could also revive the souls of the walking dead(Kikyo), though the young Dog lord had never felt inspired to do so. In his opinion, people whose souls were cursed from them deserved it. His grandfather had been a great demon; his fang would not--or could not, take the souls of the innocent. Think of his grandfather made him think of the first, last, and only time he saw him. That was when he was about eight or nine; the year before his father died...  
"Small little pup for being related to me." Lord Sesski had said. "Looks just like Sesshoumaru... without his (Sesshoumaru) mothers crescent mark. Kid probably has poison claws too..." The wolf pup smiled cockily. "I think Sess is cool!"  
"You would." Lord Sesski said, jokingly, picking the child up and looking at his pale face. "You got the good blood though, for being such a mutt." he glanced at the red marks over the child's eyes and the fuchsia stripes on his cheeks. "Those are the only sign you're not a wolf." The child yawned, showing a mouth full of sharp teeth, two more sharp teeth on the top than a dog or a wolf had.  
Besides his fangs, the only other visible clue of his cat blood were his retractable claws, a source of embarrassment to him ever since they grew sharp enough to cut through anything. People actually thought he was full Dog until he popped those claws out. No full-blood Dog--of Wolf--had claws like that.  
Sesski had been right about one thing; his claws were poison; his claws and his blood. Poison blood was a rarity, but possible phenomenon in higher demons, it was more common, but only slightly more so, in lesser demons, as a defense mechanism to ward of danger; a technique similar to that of an insect in a land far,far,far, to the west that he had once visited. When the insect is in its incomplete stage its main source of food is a horrible tasting plant, so when it metamorphasizes it retains the horrible taste, making predators not want to eat it. Of course on demons, everything is magnified; so instead of just tasting bad, it kills on the first bite. Smiling again, the Dog lord came to a halt, for the first time in thirty-six hours of non-stop running. Walking slowly to the edge of the ravine he had stopped in front of; he peered down into the inky blackness, gazing around a bit before his eyes finally came to rest on the object of his journey.  
The Stone Peak.  
And it looked like he wasn't the only one here.  
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Oh please tell me you like it! Please tell me some one read it! I told my friend at the Keenspace.com Forums about it so I hope they read at least some of it! Please tell me what you think. I'll try to make the chapters longer too; and I'll get the next chapter out A.S.A.P. If anybody has any constructive criticism, feel free to dish it out! Arevaderci 


	3. The Council

Chapter 2:  
  
The Council  
  
Note: Once again, Inu and Co. are not mine (though I'd kill for Sesshoumaru), but Sesshyo, Sia, and Hinosaiga are mine. Yo-Kay?  
  
Inuyasha flew down the ravine toward the great peak, towering above him like a spike to heaven. Yeah, he was going to investigate the unknown demon to the South, but since he was here, he decided to go to the council. (Not that he wanted to, or anything, I mean, who would want to go talk to a bunch of stuck up demons like Sesshoumaru?) Speaking of Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha bet Tetsusaiga that he would be there, along with a bunch of other White Dogs, who would sit around commenting on how disgusting it was that a mere half-breed would dare intrude on such an important issue. That was one of the reasons he was in a bad mood; the other was following him, yelling at the top of her lungs for him to get the hell back here, that he had no right to go running off like this. Inuyasha could have easily outran Kagome, but it wasn't just Kagome, it was Kagome riding Kilala. The fire-cat demon may have belonged to Sango, but would obey Kagome without question.   
  
Of course it still was a matter of choice. Kilala didn't have to obey; she chose to. Of course, in Inuyasha's opinion Kilala did it to spite him.   
  
"Kagome! go back to camp!"  
  
"No! SIT! (insert terrific crash here) Now tell me where you're going!"  
  
"Wadda you care about it, wench?!"  
  
"SIT,SIT,SIT!"(Insert three painful crashes here)  
  
"Knock it off will you?!"  
  
"I'll stop when you tell me where you're going! Don't make me say 'the word'!"  
  
"I'm going down there!" Inuyasha yelled, pointing down the ravine.  
  
Kagome glanced down the ravine, then did a double take.  
  
"I sense four jewel shards!" she gasped.  
  
"What?!"  
  
"Four shards; down there in that valley!"  
  
Inuyasha stared down into the gorge. He needed Kagome to find the shards, but there were fresh scents of at least ten Dog demons, one of which was Sesshoumaru, and another that had that same flowery smell, but slightly different. Bringing Kagome there would put her in danger, but he was going, no matter what, and he doubted Kagome would get left behind.  
  
"Going down there will be dangerous, so you better do everything I tell you to do, the instant I say it; got it?!"  
  
Hearing the intensity of his voice, Kagome agreed, and minus Kilala, proceeded down the side of the ravine.  
  
As they got in sight of the entrance to the peak, Inuyasha became horribly aware that there was more than ten Dog demons here.  
  
There were at least forty.  
  
******  
  
Sesshoumaru glanced over at his youngest brother who had stripped off his fang-studded armor, so he could carry Rin around on his shoulders.   
  
He seemed perfectly delighted with the small child, smiling from ear to sharply pointed ear. His companion, a wolf demon, Sia, sat not far off, watching docilely. Sia was a lesser demon like Jaken, and did not have a human form. He couldn't even speak in a human tongue. He could be mistaken for a regular wolf if not for his great size and intelligence. Sesshoumaru growled softly at his brother. He could be even more ridiculous than Inuyasha at times, if that was possible. Still, he was a full demon. Inuyasha was just a pitiful Hanyou.  
  
Sesshoumaru glanced down at Hinosaiga, lying on the ground by Sia.  
  
The Western Lord had no interest in Hinosaiga, at least not as much interest as he had in Tetsusaiga. By replacing his lost arm with a non-demon arm, he could wield the Steel-Cleaving Fang, Tetsusaiga, and still be able to use its complete power. He could do no such thing with the black-bladed Soul-Reaper Fang.  
  
To wield Hinosaiga's power one had to have Magic; not magic the demons used, called Youki; but a stronger magic, the kind of magic use by priests, priestesses, and the immortal Witches. His brothers wasn't that powerful, but it was there, thanks to his warrior/witch mother.  
  
"Rin." Sesshoumaru said softly, nodding toward the entrance to the peak.  
  
Rin turned to look at him. Sesshoumaru hadn't been around his brother in years, he would've lost trust in any other demon in that length of time; but he knew he could trust the Southern Lord with Rin while he was inside the Peak. There wasn't a single demon Sesshoumaru knew of that was as trustworthy and loyal as Sesshyo. Except Inuyasha. But he didn't count. He wasn't a demon; he was a Hanyou. Besides, Sesshyo was loyal to him; Inuyasha wasn't.   
  
Rin glanced down at Sesshyo. He was nice, but Sesshoumaru was her master, her lord, her friend even, though Sesshoumaru would never admit to such a thing. She moved to get down, and Sesshyo disappointedly deposited her on the ground beside Sesshoumaru. "Not very smart, taking a human girl inside the Peak, Sess." Sesshyo said, cockily.  
  
"That's none of your business. And I would prefer if you didn't call me that."  
  
Sesshyo smiled evilly. "Fluffy-wuffy, Sessy-wessy, Sessy-shoumaru!"  
  
Sesshoumaru snarled inwardly. He should've seen that coming...  
  
Rin stalked over to Sesshyo and tugged on his pants leg. "Lord Sesshoumaru!"  
  
The Southern Lord seemed rather surprised at such a small human telling him what to call his brother. Sesshyo turned to Sesshoumaru and bowed.  
  
"Lord Sesshoumaru." he said sarcastically, walking off, laughing at the top of his lungs. He suddenly choked, looking up at he edge of the ravine.  
  
"What is this? A council for the Dog Lords, or human women?" he said, pointing up at the human girl following a hanyou dressed in a baggy fire-rat kimono. Inuyasha glanced down a the slim demon who was eyeing him warily from the Peaks entrance. Kagome made a choked noise from behind him.  
  
"Inuyasha, that's the demon that old man told us about! I can sense that he has at least four jewel fragments as well! But..."  
  
"But what?" Inuyasha snapped.  
  
"He's not tapping into the power of the jewels; they're just sitting in his pocket!"  
  
"It'll just be easier to get 'em then."  
  
The said demon had obviously gotten bored with looking, and was now making his way toward them. At first Kagome thought it was Sesshoumaru; he looked allot like Inuyasha's older brother, and he walked that same casual way, like he was just mildly curious of the strange beings he was making his way toward. But his perked dog-ears,tail, the fact that he actually had an expression on his face, cancelled out that idea. Inuyasha snarled. "Feh, wadda you want?"  
  
The demon smiled. "Oh, nothing...just curious. Are you bringing that human for a mid-afternoon snack?"  
  
"No!, I am not bringing her for a snack! Who the hell are you anyway?"  
  
"I have half a mind not to answer with you asking in that disrespectful tone."  
  
"It's not just his tone; he is disrespectful. A filthy mongrel, not worthy of his fathers sword." Sesshoumaru said, his lip curled in a sneer.  
  
The unnamed demon smiled again. "Inuyasha... I recognize you now. A Hanyou that actually managed to stay alive till his coming of age... interesting.  
  
"Oh yes, an answer to your question. I am Sesshyo, Lord of the Southern Lands.  
  
Sesshoumaru's brother; I guess that makes you my brother as well. Isn't this a delightful reunion?" 


	4. Hinosaiga

Chapter 3:  
  
Hinosaiga  
  
I said it before; I won't say it again.  
  
"But I thought you only had one brother, Inuyasha?" Kagome quizzed.  
  
"Well obviously not." Sesshyo snorted.  
  
"Brother or no, you have something I want. Now, hand over those shards of the Shikon jewel!" Inuyasha snapped. And if you don't, I'm take a hunk outta your head with Tetsusaiga!"  
  
Sesshyo yawned. "I'm quivering with fear, I'm sure." he snorted. "Heh, like your little Tetsusaiga could hurt me anyway."  
  
"Oh, It'll do more than just hurt you!"  
  
"Temper, temper, Inuyasha. There's no need for violence; if you want these stupid shards you can have them. They're of no use to me." Sesshyo said, tossing Kagome the jewels.  
  
Inuyasha stood there with a dumbfounded expression on his face, watching Sesshyo stroll coolly back down the hill. "You mean, you're just gonna give 'em to me and walk off? Just like that?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
"Like you don't even care?"  
  
"Yep. Anyway, if it came to swords, you wouldn't even have time to draw Tetsusaiga before I killed you. So there's no real point in trying then, is there?"  
  
"Calm down Inuyasha," Kagome said, waving her hand passively. "You should be glad your brother just gave us the shards and we didn't have to fight for them!"  
  
"I would rather fight for them for 'em. If this Sesshyo guy is anything like Sesshoumaru, he'll be wantin' something in return."  
  
Sesshyo smiled. "Can't you just be satisfied that you have four more pieces of the jewel? But... if I want something, you'll know who I'm going to ask."  
  
******  
  
Sesshoumaru gazed distractedly at Tetsusaiga which was tucked in Inuyasha's belt, fingering Tenseiga's sheath with his sole hand.  
  
Sesshyo followed his gaze to Tetsusaiga, then back to the elegant sword on Sesshoumaru's belt.  
  
"Can't you just be satisfied with Tenseiga for a change?"  
  
"You shouldn't talk. You're not the one cursed with this worthless sword."  
  
"It's not worthless. I'd rather have Tenseiga than this hell-blade." Sesshyo snapped, slamming Hinosaiga down on the table in front of them. "You can have if you can even touch it."  
  
Sesshoumaru glanced over at his brother then stretched out his hand and grasped the sword by the grip. He jerked his hand back like it had been bitten almost as soon as he touched it. He glanced down at his hand which gashed and burned across the palm where he had touched it; a stream of blood was running down his wrist.  
  
"You see? It doesn't let anyone touch it. It only tolerates me, and only if I have a glove on. The only person that could hold it barehanded without getting hurt was our grandfather."  
  
Inuyasha had wandered up about this time,and was sneering down at the sword. "Yeah, I'm sure anyone could touch it with a glove on." he said, snatching up Sesshyo's sword-glove which was lying on the table. Slipping it on he grabbed the sword just to have it electrocute him as he howled in surprise and pain. Sesshyo snickered at Kagome fussing over a frazzled Inuyasha. His hair was static charged and stuck strait out like a clown's wig.  
  
"I told you." Sesshyo said, reaching out and grabbing the sword barehanded, causing Kagome to gasp as a thin trickle of blood ran down his hand and down his arm. Slipping it back into his belt.  
  
Inuyasha finally fought Kagome off him and was staring at the black-bladed sword. "And just exactly what power does that thing have besides trying to kill it's owner?"   
  
Sesshyo stroked the sword-hilt (with a glove on this time) his violet/gold eyes boring into Inuyasha. "See that dog?" he asked, pointing at a ragged dog lying in the corner of the room.  
  
"Uh, yeah."  
  
Sesshyo stood up and drew his sword; as soon as it left the sheath it started glowing a violent red; and brought the sword flashing down over the dog's body.  
  
He sheathed the sword then stood back so they could see. The dogs brown eyes had turned a dull gray, and a tiny wisp of something smoky was dis-appearing over it.   
  
"And what exactly did that do?" Inuyasha droned.  
  
"It's hard for your enemy to attack, flee or do much of anything when their soul is gone."  
  
"You took his soul?" Kagome choked.  
  
"He's just a zombie now. Dog;" Sesshyo pointed at the table. "Jump up there."  
  
The dog obeyed mechanically; leaping onto the table and turning to face Sesshyo. Sesshyo brought the now blue glowing sword back across the dog and it seemed to snap back to consciousness. "You can bring their souls back from the dead as well, with a little practice; but it's much more difficult; though a non-sentinent being like a dog is much easier than bringing back a human or demon. Come now, the council is starting."   
  
"Are you sure you want to stay, Kagome? All they're gonna talk about is borders and controlling the unruly clans."  
  
"I'm going whether you like it or not Inuyasha. You aren't my boss, I'll do what I want."  
  
(Inuyasha) "Even if that means getting eaten by demons?"  
  
(Kagome) "Even if that means getting eaten by demons."  
  
(Sesshyo) "I'll eat her if you want."   
  
(Inuyasha) "Stay out of this you! She's my wench!"  
  
(Kagome) "Waddid you call me?"  
  
(Inuyasha) "Huh? Oh, no Kagome don't!"  
  
(Kagome) "SIT!"  
  
(Inuyasha) "OW!"  
  
(Sesshyo) "That's just sad."  
  
(Inuyasha) "I said stay out of this you!"  
  
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Who-hoo! Two more chapters! And the faster I get rewiews the faster I get up more chapters! 


	5. Blood is Thicker Than Water

Chapter 4:   
  
Blood is Thicker Than Water  
  
Four years later:  
  
Sesshyo raced full-tilt in his full demon form, the wind whipping through his pure-white fur, his incredibly long tail streamed behind him like a fluffy cloud. His animal-like full demon form was smaller than Sesshoumaru's and more cat-like.  
  
Still he was an impressive sight. He usually didn't turn into his cat-wolf form unless he needed the extra power for a fight, or if he needed the extra speed.  
  
Speed was of the essence right now; one of his scouts had just reported a group of foreign demon causing trouble on his northern-most border. He snarled, what idiotic demon thought he could stir up trouble in Sesshyo's land?  
  
******  
  
Maintaining his full-demon form took up a lot of energy, so as soon as he reached the northern border he changed back. He could smell the scent of multiple foreign snake-demons and blood-demons; they had stayed here overnight, he didn't need his nose to tell him that, there were several dead campfires all over the place. The blood-demons concerned him most; they were like superpowered vampires that were capable of traveling in the daylight.  
  
They drank blood, and were especially fond of the blood of other demons.  
  
He was really starting to regret leaving Hinosaiga back at the Damaiyo Den.  
  
******  
  
The hot sun glinted of the blue lacquered sheath of his second sword Hyokama no Saiga ('fang of fire's spirit'; Hinosaiga means 'flame fang';). The Hyokama had no exceptional power like the three Great Fangs; but it was definitely sharp; it was made from a dragon's fang; and if you took away the special power of Hinosaiga, Hyokama was a much better sword; especially if you just wanted to get to the point without killing them. But those blood-demons wouldn't care how sharp Hyokama was; just how nice it would look over their mantle.   
  
Sesshyo sneered. They'll care after I get done with them!  
  
******  
  
The red snake demon finished sucking the marrow out of the bones of one of its victims and turned to face its companion, a sallow-faced blood-demon named Salis. It tossed the bone away and glanced down at its injured tail, sliced off by the human fool whose marrow he had just drunk. "Remind me why we are here, Sssaliss." it hissed. The larger demon didn't look up from the horseflesh he was cooking on a spit. A goatskin was sitting beside him filled with the horses blood.  
  
"Demons, Sharka, demons. That Inu (dog) demon for one. First I shall drink its blood, then its sword shall decorate my cave, and I shall use its fangs to make a neck-lace for my wife."  
  
"Can I have the marrow?"  
  
"Dammit, Sharka, don't you have enough with all these humans?"  
  
"It is known within my people that if you drink the marrow of an Inu you gain their power."  
  
"That's just a stupid superstition. Besides, I take back what I said before; he has hardly any Inu blood anyway, so even if that stupid superstition was true you wouldn't get much power from him, unless it works for Wolves too."  
  
"It's worth a try."  
  
"You're disgusting."  
  
"And you're not?"  
  
"Do you want your blood in a bowl, Sharka?"  
  
"No, My Lord."  
  
"Then shut up, and..."  
  
Salis didn't get to finish his sentence, because Sharka had just keeled over dead, a black-shafted arrow lodged in his heart. Whirling he spotted the young Inu standing in a tree about fifty yards off, already stringing another arrow.  
  
Salis let out a blood-chilling shriek, halfway between a banshees scream and a roar, and almost instantly seven snake demons and two more blood-demons appeared from behind some rocks, sneering, and armed with swords and bows.  
  
Two of the snake demons charged forward, just to fall dead with arrows stuck in their throats. Salis snarled; this Inu demon was a good shot, and his arrows were fast; he could kill all of them in no time at all at this rate, unless they started using some strategy. He called the five remaining snake demon and the other two blood-demons forward. He glanced at the Inu, who was stringing another arrow. "Zara," he said to one of the blood-demons, who was the fastest in their group. "See that stack of rockets the humans brought,over there?" he asked, pointing to a spot close to where they were standing. Rockets were a new invention by the humans, they could kill several demons at a time.  
  
Zara glanced at the rockets. "Yeah, what of them?"  
  
"Bring 'em over here."  
  
Zara dodged another arrow before replying. "Yeah, boss."  
  
Sesshyo couldn't see were the big, ugly, blood-demon had dashed off to but he didn't like it. Stringing another arrow he began shooting at the others again.  
  
As fast as he was, another snake had fallen in the eight seconds it took him to gather up the twelve two-foot long rockets. Sprinting back over to where the others stood, he handed a rocket and a flint lighting-stone to Salis.  
  
"Now, heres how you barbecue a dog."  
  
******  
  
Sesshyo realized what it was a second before they fired it. He leaped from his perch in the tree just before the rocket hit. He was pleased to find that he was Ok with the exception of being rather stunned from the concussion blast.  
  
With a snarl he whirled to face the other demons stringing an arrow and aiming at the leaders head. They were readying another one of those dammed rock-ets, he could see the fuse being lit. Rockets, rockets, rockets....rockets? He quickly re-aimed his arrow from the blood-demons head, to a spot near his feet.  
  
"Have a taste of your own medicine jerk! Hyokazie!" The arrow in his fingers blazed red and as it left his bowstring a flicker of flame began to blaze down the shaft. The flaming arrow flew straight and true, right to its target: the unguarded stack of rockets by the blood-demon's leader. The arrow landed amongst them, lighting the short fuses, sending the demon by them into a panic.  
  
"Put 'em out! Put 'em out!" the demon leader screamed to no avail; the rockets blew up in his face.  
  
******  
  
Sesshyo smiled briefly; but it quickly faded. The two remaining blood-demons were clambering to their feet. "Shit." Sesshyo muttered.  
  
He strung his last two arrows, and aimed down to finish off the creatures, when he heard the sound of twigs snapping, and whirled around...just to be on the receiving end of a sword thrust through the heart. 


	6. Blood Poison and Blood Poisoning

Chapter 5:  
  
Blood Poison and Blood Poisoning  
  
Sesshyo shuddered, stumbling back away from the fourth blood-demon who had been waiting in the woods to strike him down. His hand was pressed against his gushing wound; not that it did any good. He snarled weakly. If he was going to be hurt, he was going to make some good out of it. He clenched his fist, then flung his blood-soaked hand outward, flinging drops of his poisonous blood in the other demon's face. The other demon shrieked in pain; some had gotten into his eyes and open mouth, burning his retinas so he couldn't see, and causing his throat to swell so he couldn't breath. With a howl he lunged blindly forward, grabbing the much smaller demon around the waist, and sinking his fangs into his shoulder. Sesshyo collapsed over backward, over the edge of the ravine, and they tumbled down the rocky, fifty foot slope. The huge blood-demon crashed down on top of Sesshyo, breaking his ribs and causing him to spit up a stream of blood from his rib-pierced lung. The other demon rolled off of him and clumsily gathered his sword, and with the last bit of strength he had left, raised it over his head for the final blow; but he wasn't near quick enough.  
  
Sesshyo gathered himself, and lunged at the towering demon, drawing his dagger, he plunged it in the other demon again, and again until he collapsed dead from stab wounds, and Sesshyo's poison blood, which he was soaked with. Sesshyo laughed miserably, though the only good thing he could think of for the moment was that he was immune to his own poison.  
  
He turned weakly to face the two blood-demons from the rocket blast, who were injured, but definitely not dead. Argh... What was up with this sword wound? He could get stabbed twenty times and still come up fighting; sure this wound, even for him, but it was making him so sick he just wanted to pass out.  
  
Forget that the blood-demon would do terrible things to him if they got him unconscious. Shaking his head to clear his foggy vision, he flicked his hand down, bringing out his poison whip, like Sesshoumaru's except it was fire-red instead of acid-green. Using a yoki technique was going to make it harder to stay conscious, but he was going to die if he didn't; and Sesshyo planed on living a few hundred more years. He brought the whip down in a broad arch, lashing it back down across the smaller blood-demons face, causing him to howl and jump back. Seeing the injury his companion had received, the other youkia hesitated for a moment, then regained his composure and charged.  
  
******  
  
It seemed to Salis that this Inu tried to avoid close combat if at all possible.  
  
He had easily slain most of his posse with a longbow and arrows, now he was keeping the at a distance with this poison whip, which had seared out the eyes of his companion, leaving him blind and useless. The only injury the Inu had sustained had been from Radi's poison knife; which had obviously done it's job;  
  
Sesshyo was shaking all over, and obviously fighting to stay conscious, and that poison whip wasn't doing him any good. Salis drew his dagger and dashed forward, preparing to slash his opponent, when, moving with a speed that he didn't know someone so badly poisoned would have Sesshyo drew his own sword, a fine-bladed rapier with a chrome blade. Ducking under Salis' thrust he plunged the sword upward, running Salis clean through; then he stumbled backward and collapsed, unconscious. Salis painfully turned to his companion, and, upon seeing that he was dead, slowly dragged himself to his feet, preparing to finish Sesshyo off himself; when he heard a savage growl and whirled to see a black-and-white striped wolf demon leap upon him, tearing his throat out before he could even utter a cry.  
  
******  
  
Sia had stopped for a few hours at a human village on the way back to the Den, to get Sesshyo's wound bandaged by the human doctors there; that was the thing about not having a human form, no fingers. It irritated Sia to no end, having to take Lord Sesshyo to a loley village like that; his silk kimono alone, though ruined, was probably worth more than that entire village.   
  
At first they wouldn't even come near the two demons, out of fear or stupidity, Sia suspected it was both; but after Sia started killing cattle to get the point through they came willingly enough. They approached cautiously; Sia was soaked in crimson blood, giving him a rather terrifying appearance. Lesser demons were immune to Sesshyo's curious blood poison, Sia wondered curiously what effect it would have on the humans. Apparently it had no effect whatsoever; the village doctor, a feeble old woman who hobbled about with a cane didn't look any different, though to Sia she looked so awful, she couldn't possibly get any worse. The most aggravating the was that these stupid humans made their houses so small he couldn't fit his huge body into the house. He was almost as big a some of the smaller houses in the village. Two of the children in the village, the old woman's granddaughters Sia supposed, where absolutely fascinated with the two demons, they either stared at the fuming Sia through the window, or, aggravating fools that they were, ran their fingers through Sesshyo's silken, silvery- white hair. Sia snarled savagely to warn them off, but they were just stupid humans, and didn't get the picture. After two or three hours Sia decided they had wasted enough time there; the Den's doctors were much more skilled in healing youkia injuries than these ignorant humans; Sia had just come here to get Sesshyo's wounds bandaged up. He told the old woman he planned to leave (yes, he could speak in human tongue, but it hurt his mouth and throat, and it was hard to understand, so he rarely spoke it), and of course she objected, saying that he couldn't moved, that the wound wasn't closing up like it usually did on demons, that any jostling around would make it bleed even worse, and all that pointless stuff humans worry about. During the course of their argument, Sia heard the high-pitched scream of a human in pain and terror, and as he turned, saw a firestorm consuming the entire other side of the village.  
  
"They have come!" the old woman shrieked.  
  
"Wwho wwomann?"  
  
"The demons that have been plaguing our village for weeks!"  
  
"Tthattt iss off no coonn-cern to me."  
  
The woman whirled on Sia, a fire in her eyes that hadn't been there before.  
  
"The same demons that attacked your friend!"  
  
"Hhoww do yous know dis?"  
  
"I recognize that poison that spread from the wound through his entire bloodstream, it has killed many people in my village. Even for a demon, your friend must have incredible stamina to survive this long, though I won't guarantee his survival."  
  
Sia snarled savagely at the woman. "Itt stilll coonn-cernss me not."  
  
"Fine take your friend and leave, but I beg you, take my granddaughters with you; all you have to do is leave them at the next village, it would be no trouble! Please! I'm begging you!"  
  
"Wwhoo are yous to deter-mine what is trooble an' nott?"  
  
"Sia," a weak voice said. Sia turned to see Sesshyo standing in the doorway, supported by the two small children and the doorpost. "Have some sympathy,"  
  
He choked, and coughed up some more blood. "It won't be any trouble for you I'm sure." he smiled weakly, then swayed and fell. Maybe the old woman was right, Sia thought, Sesshyo was incredible pale, and from the amount of blood on his kimono the poison must've been doing something to his immune system, it wasn't normal for a demon to bleed this much. Sesshyo had a soft spot for these miserably cute, innocent little human children, and Sia, having been Sesshyo's guardian from when he was a small child, knew how stubborn he could be.  
  
He would probably keep insisting they take the brats all night, even if he bled to death. On any other demon he would have thought this was just a delirium brought on by the poison, but Sesshyo was always like this. It was very un-demonlike. Sia snarled, the motioned for the humans standing around to get Sesshyo onto his back; they hesitated a minute then slowly helped the young demon lord onto Sia's back, glancing warily at his claws and wolf-like canine teeth, probably fearing he would snap back to reality and kill them all.  
  
He then turned and growled at the children for them to get on.  
  
They glanced fearfully up at his sword-sized fangs, then carefully pulled them selves up onto his back, at this Sia growled again; they didn't weigh enough to hurt him by pulling on his fur, but having these disgraceful humans on his back was enough to make him scream, if he could. He dashed off into the night, getting a surprised squeal from the girls. He snorted. Humans were so easily impressed it was disgusting. Wait till Sesshyo was well, he could show them speed! Please be ok my friend... Sia thought to himself. 


	7. Family Ties Mean Nothing To Youkai

Chapter 6:  
  
Family Ties Mean Nothing to Youkia  
  
His mother stood by the bank of the river, watching him play in the water.  
  
He turned and smiled at her; a small boy of about six. Small for a demon child, but tough as nails. His big brother Sesshoumaru had a deep bite in his hand, in-flicted by tiny fangs, protesting having to come inside out of the rain. The child loved the rain. He would just sit outside and stare up the raindrops falling strait down at his face. The maids absolutely hated it; they were overwhelmed by the amount of small, mud-stained kimonos that they were flooded with.   
  
The boys mother smiled, unbeknownst to the pair it would be the last time she ever would. She got up, and straitened her flowing blue kimono.  
  
The boys mother beckoned for them to leave, so the child began his clumsy climb up the bank. He had just about reached the top when his mother shoved him back down. He landed painfully in the water, and looked up to protest such treatment, when his mother's sword flashed in the midday sun, coming down in a broad arch, barely missing its target; a demon, by the smell of it; dressed in the skin of a white baboon. The sword ripped through the side, drawing blood which quickly stained the pale fur. The creature laughed.  
  
Laughed; at one of the most powerful demons alive; laughed; like she was nothing compared to him. His mother leaped back from this strange demon, eyes blazing red. Bringing her sword up to an offensive position, she charged; and as she did so, the baboon seemed to change. He seemed less like a baboon and more like a black hole, sucking his mother in. The child thought this was just an illusion. You're ok, right, mother? the boy thought. But when the darkness vanished, the only demon there was the white baboon.  
  
The child choked on a cry; and didn't, couldn't, do anything as the demon approached him. "Your mother was stupid, child. What shall you do?"  
  
The child snarled, then savagely bit the hand that was approaching his face.  
  
The demon snatched his hand back; and lashed out with his other, catching the across the side of the face, sending him crashing into deeper water.  
  
"You're not worth wasting space with, little Inu brat." he said icily, kicking the boy in the face again, knocking him deeper into the river. This time the water was well over his head. He had almost drowned once before, he had been rescued by his mother. Were was she now? She was gonna save him right?  
  
Mother, Sessy's in trouble! Help! he thought, pitifully; his head kept getting dunked underwater by the swift current that ran down the middle of the river.  
  
"Mother.." he choked. "Mother! M..."  
  
******  
  
"Mother!" Sesshyo shouted, sitting up in bed so quickly that he nearly passed out. He laid back down quickly, glancing around the room, trying to figure out where he was. Lets see... before he was at some village, in a... house was it?   
  
That's right. A house, and there was and old human woman. She hurt him, touching his wound, he had stifled a cry when she did that, but she still heard him; he had blushed with embarrassment through his pain. She would think he was weak if he screamed. He would think himself weak if he screamed.  
  
But she just smiled. "It's alright to show emotion, young one. I won't tell anyone if you whimper a bit." But he didn't anyway. Then there was Sia; he remembered fire, and Sia telling those 'ignorant humans' to 'get their asses in gear' so they could leave. Then he couldn't remember anything until... of course, how stupid.  
  
They were at the Daimaiyo Den, also known as Shinriaka Castle. Unlike all the other clan dens; which were built into mountains, or deep underground;   
  
Star Castle was an ancient stone fortress, built by a human army from the East. It was supposedly impenetrable, or at least the guy he talked to when he was moving the Southern Court from the underground cavern of Oonishi, had told him that. The castle itself was constructed of stone, with walls sixty feet high, and five feet thick. It had five one-hundred foot towers on each point of its pentagon shape, making it look like a star from the air. Inside were two hundred rooms, and a mile of secret rooms and passageways. Outside the castle was surrounded by moat with a twenty foot deep trench, the bank on the castle-side was covered in logs with one end stuck in the ground and the other end sticking strait out with the end sharpened to a point. Beyond this was a wooden room, like a wall, five and a half feet high,five feet wide, with a two thousand foot circumference, totally enclosed except for a eight inch wide slot that ran its entire length. This was known as the Archery Wall; archers stood inside the wall and could shoot enemies without putting themselves at much risk. Also, topping the Archery Wall were two foot long steel spikes, for impaling any one who tried to climb over. The Wall could be reached by an underground tunnel leading from the castle. And finally, fifty feet in front of the Archery Wall, was a stone wall, sixty feet high, surrounding the entire castle area. This wall had a walkway on top for lookouts and turrets for even more archers, so if by some freak chance an enemy got past the perimeter wall he would have archers shooting at him from both sides. Pretty dang effective, if you asked Sesshyo.  
  
Sesshyo slowly got up and put on a dark blue kimono; it was the same color as the eyes of the more outspoken of the two girls Sia had rescued. Yes, they were here. Sia had taken them hoping he could drop them at the next village; but when they arrived, it had been burned into the dust of ruin, and even Sia wasn't so cold hearted as to just leave them there. So now they were scurrying around the courtyard, much to the disgust of his court members. Sesshyo smiled painfully. As long as he was here they would keep their claws off the two girls.  
  
And was just how Sesshyo wanted it.  
  
******  
  
Sesshyo had come down from his room in the tower a few minutes ago; and was now sitting cross-legged in the courtyard polishing Hyokama. He glanced at the two human children. Sesshyo could tell from a glance they couldn't have come from around here. The older girl, shy little Mika had pale blue eyes and red hair; and the younger, but more courageous Katsumi had green eyes and yellow hair. Sesshyo actually found himself curious at this--well, more curious than he usually was. He never seen a person with yellow hair; he had once thought he saw one on a journey to the eastern lands, but he had just figured it was an illusion. Weird. He stood up and walked toward the girls. Mika immediately hid behind Katsumi, who just stood there, green eyes peering questionably at the young demon lord who had just strolled up to her.  
  
He stared at her for a second, then remembering that humans didn't like just being stared at for no reason, spoke. "Katsumi, right? How old are you? Six?"  
  
She frowned. "I'm ten. and Mika's eleven."  
  
Ten? she was awful small to be ten. She smiled challengingly.  
  
"And how old are you?" she asked Sesshyo.  
  
"Sixty-one." Katsumi's jaw dropped ever so slightly. That obviously was not the answer she had expected. "You're old. Older than my dad." she said.  
  
Sesshyo frowned, annoyed at being compared to her dad; he was just a child by demon standards. "And your dad is...?"  
  
"A general." she chirped.  
  
"A general? General Who? And under whose flag?"  
  
"General Striffe. Under the flag of the Imperial Army."  
  
Sesshyo took a step back. General Striffe? He was second only to the Japanese Emperor! "What?" Sesshyo said stupidly.  
  
"You heard me, it'd be kinda hard not to with those ears."  
  
For being so polite sometimes, this girl certainly could have a smart mouth.  
  
Sensing that she had said the wrong thing; after all, Sesshyo was the one that kept them from being ripped apart by the hungry teeth of demons; she quickly said: "But they're cute ears!" Sesshyo's eyes narrowed as he glared venomously at the girl. "This close." he said icily, holding his index finger and thumb out to show her how close. A cold voice sounded from the other side of the courtyard.  
  
"It's not very good for your public image, being pushed around by a little human girl like that, Lord Sesshyo." said a scarred Dog demon by the name of Sark. His icy smiled signed this comment as a challenge. Sesshyo stepped toward him, snarling. "I didn't ask you, Sark." Sark advanced toward the white-haired Inu, his black hair pulled up in a ponytail whipped behind him in the wind.  
  
"Sorry, I didn't quite catch that."  
  
"Back off, Sark." Sia snapped, appearing from nowhere. Normally, Sesshyo could've kicked Sark's butt from here to high-heaven; but he could still smell fresh blood on Sesshyo, and obviously Sark could to. He snarled at both the Dog  
  
Youkai, then turned and motioned for Sesshyo to come with him.  
  
******  
  
"How are you feeling?" Sia asked the boy walking along beside him on the top of the castle's Archery Bridge that ran along the top of the wall.  
  
"Fine."  
  
"Are you sure."  
  
Sesshyo whirled. "Cut the crap, Sia. What is it?"  
  
"While you were out; you know, unconscious;"  
  
"I know what it means." Sesshyo snapped.  
  
"...more scouts came in from the Northern Border. The blood-demons, it seems, have amassed a substantial army..."  
  
"How substantial?" Sesshyo cut in.  
  
Sia hesitated. "Almost three times the size of ours."  
  
Sesshyo cursed, then snarled. He paced the wall a few minutes, then returned to Sia with two letters. "Have our fastest messenger take these to my brothers."  
  
he ordered. "What for?" Sia asked. Sesshyo frowned grimly. "We're gonna need their help."  
  
******  
  
The messenger left that evening and returned two days later. Sesshyo's condition hadn't improved; but it hadn't got worse either; though Sia thought Sesshyo was in worse shape than he let on. The messenger dashed into the dining hall right as the occupants where getting up to leave.  
  
"Lord Sesshyo!" he squeaked, dashing over and handing the letters over to said demon. Sesshyo unsheathed a claw and ripped the seal on the letters. He glanced over both of them quickly, the color fading from his already pale face.   
  
The letters slipped from his hand and fluttered to the floor. His pained expression made him look a thousand years older. His flag-like tail lay dejectedly on the stone floor, and his ears drooped almost to the side of his head.  
  
"What?" Sia asked.  
  
Sesshyo's expression turned from one of sadness to one of true cold fury, an expression Sia had never seen on his face in fifty-five years. He slammed his left hand down onto the table hard enough to split the wood; the glass he had been holding in that hand shattered into a thousand pieces. Sia could see blood dripping from the shards of glass which were no doubt imbedded in his hand. His squeezed shut eyes snapped open; a violent light purple, with just a tinch of gold near his pupil, blood-red starting to blaze around the edge of the iris. He glared up at his friend. "Those dammed worthless mutts aren't going to help. We have to do this on our own."  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Five days between updates... :(. I guess that's not too bad, but it would've been done sooner, but I got grounded for telling my brother to shut up cuz he was harassing me. Tragic that my dad (AKA Grand Tyrant of the Underworld) was in the same room. Sigh. I'll try harder...  
  
Emme: thank you! that's so nice of you!  
  
Notes: You might have noticed Sia is talking better this chapter. See, when he talks to human he has to talk in human language; but when he talks to other demons he talks in wolf-tougue, 'cause obviously other dog demons can understand him...  
  
Ummm.... what else? Oh yeah, from the chapter before 'Hyokazie' means 'fire wind' (I think...), and 'Daimaiyo' means 'clan', though I'm not sure if I spelled it right; to many vowels I think... Um, help me out here! Anything else confusing you? Tell me and I'll try and clear it up. ;)  
  
5/27/03 Happy birthday to my cousin Blake! (14) 


	8. The Imperial Army

Chapter Seven:  
  
The Imperial Army  
  
Voices in the dining hall crashed over each other like waves upon the ocean.  
  
Sesshyo was the only silent one in the hall, holding his face in his palm; his claws digging into his own skin in his frustration. Sia had given up the argument he was having with Sark, now he was pinning him to the ground, chewing on his ear, while Sark kicked him in the chest. The others were jabbering unintelligibly.  
  
The two human children sitting at the table were silent; staring at the chaos around them, when Katsumi rose and walked over to Sesshyo. She looked up at him and tugged on his sleeve. He stared at her for a second, then stood up so quickly he almost upset the table. "Silence." he said to the others, then, seeing they weren't responding, he shouted "Shut up!" That got their attention, and they turned to look at him. "It appears I am surrounded by grossly incompetent fools."  
  
Sesshyo said, snappily. "This human girl has more sense than any of you."  
  
Sia growled. "And what is that supposed to mean?" he snapped.  
  
Sesshyo smiled. "We don't need Inuyasha or Sesshoumaru's help."  
  
"What?" all the occupants of the hall stammered.  
  
"This girl is the reason we don't."  
  
From the stunned looks on their faces it was clear they weren't following Sesshyo's same train of thought.  
  
"Her father is General Striffe."  
  
All of a sudden the other demons seemed to get it.  
  
"You don't know how much of a stroke of good fortune that was, Sia, you saving those girls;" Sesshyo said, nodding at Katsumi and Mika.  
  
"Now we have someone with a reason to help us. Even more incentive is that his daughters are here; and Star Castle will most likely be the main target of their attack." all the other demon stared drop-jawed at the two little girls.  
  
Who would've thought two human girls would be their trump card to victory?  
  
******  
  
"And what if he won't help?"  
  
"He will."  
  
Sesshyo strolled casually down the dark hallway from the battlements, followed closely by Sia.  
  
"You do know that it takes ten days for our messenger to reach Tokyo and back? That is, if they even let him past the city's border. Do think we can hold out that long?"  
  
"Gah, Sia its just ten days; and you said their army was only three times ours, it'll be bad but not that bad."  
  
Sia sighed. "You don't seem to understand. Their front line consisted of three thousand; their main bulk is closer to ten."  
  
Sesshyo's jaw went slack. "W-what? Even with the Imperial Army those're almost impossible odds! The Imperial Army has twelve thousand men; and it'd take more than eight times that to evenly match humans and blood-demons!"  
  
"So. You're saying that we haven't a chance. We should just give up now and save some lives?" Sia snapped.  
  
"I never said anything of the sort." Sesshyo snapped back.  
  
"Now I'm sure that poison has messed you up."  
  
Sesshyo growled. "Don't you get it? They've been planning this all along! If I wasn't so young I would've seen that; that's why they chose the Southern Lands, even though the Western Land is bigger, and the Eastern Land is richer.  
  
"They've singled me out because they think I can't handle the pressure of commanding a war-time standard army." he snarled even more savagely than before. His hair began to float upward on breeze that seemed to come from nowhere; his equivalent of raising his hackles. Realizing he was letting himself get freaked out, he sighed heavily and seemed to shrink several inches.  
  
"Ok, first we need to figure out what they plan on doing. First they'll probably send out spies to find other demons who'll help them. A lot of demons don't like being under a lord younger than their their youngest child. And every ally the blood-demons gain is one we've lost. Next they're probably going to stage a few minor assaults on Star Castle itself to test its defenses. They've most likely also have someone already in the castle. It would be the logical thing to do.  
  
With someone on the inside they would be aware of our battle strategies, and would be able to plan around them. That's number one priority; finding the spy."  
  
"What if they don't have one?"  
  
"Humph. They do; I'll bet anything on it. Probably been here at least a year.  
  
"Sia, I want you to watch everyone who's been here less than a year and everyone who kind of comes and goes, doesn't really hang around much."  
  
"Yes, My Lord."  
  
******  
  
So... that young whelp thought he could sniff him out. Foolish child.   
  
He had no idea what he was getting into.   
  
It would take a lot more than that to rat him out.  
  
But... just in case...  
  
******  
  
Katsumi walked into the main hall where Sesshyo was closely watching the other demons that were milling around. He turned to see the girl carrying a bow, with some arrows in a quiver over her shoulder, and a small katana hanging at her waist. She also had a knife tucked in the belt of her demon-made silk kimono the ladies-in-waiting had given her to replace her old ragged goat-skin one. She bowed to Sesshyo then made her way toward the castle doors.  
  
"And just where do think you're going?"  
  
"To help stand watch."  
  
That hadn't been what he'd thought she'd say. Maybe that she was leaving, or going out to get some fresh air... but stand watch? Even demon women didn't do that except in times of great peril when the men where unable to, due either to war or injury. This girl was striking his curiosity even more with each word she spoke. He would be sad to see her go; but after all, she was only human.  
  
******  
  
The creature slipped closer to its prey, silver knife glinting in the light. The knife in the creatures hand had tasted the blood from the throats of many a demon.  
  
It was thirsty again. The blade gleamed in anticipation. So close, the creature was only a few feet away... just a little closer...   
  
******  
  
"Sesshyo!" Sia growled.   
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"There were only three people who are recent members of the court; and only two wanderers, one of which isn't here currently, though I'll vouch for him, he was a devoted member of Lord Sessbiinshi's royal court. The other is in the dungeon for insulting the daughter of Lord Sari."  
  
"Lemme guess what his name is. Sark."  
  
"Bingo."  
  
"Humph. He might be the spy; but he's really to stupid to be of much good."  
  
"Right. I'll continue."  
  
******  
  
Argh... so close... that stupid wolf didn't know when to keep his snout out of other people's business... if he had come in just a minute later he would've found his master released from the pain of the blood poison for all eternity...  
  
Well, no worries. There was always tomorrow.  
  
******  
  
Sia glanced at the girl standing before him; Katsumi. She didn't look at all like her sister, not at all. Curious. "You don't look like your sister at all." Sia said, in wolf tongue; the girl was a gem among humans indeed, though she couldn't speak wolf, she could understand it.   
  
"That's because she's not really my sister. Just like General Striffe isn't really my father, though he loves us just as much. We're orphans. General Striffe adopted us. His wife died right before she had her baby; the baby died too.  
  
Daddy was so miserable he didn't know what to do. Then during a training exercise they encountered some bandits slaughtering a village far to the west; beyond the borders of the Western Land; he said it was cold there but that was about all. Well they came upon these bandits, but by the time they had gotten there, the bandits had killed just about everyone except for us. So Daddy took care of them and here we are. Can I make it simpler for you?"  
  
Sia snarled. "No, that was all I wanted to know. Now, I have more important thing to take care of. Farewell, little human." 


	9. Don't Believe Everything You See

Chapter 8:  
  
Don't Believe Everything You See  
  
It was cold.  
  
Colder than it had ever been in the Southern Lands.  
  
Demons of all kinds stood watch on the perimeter wall; their breath coming in fluffy clouds. They either wore thick furs, or the furred species had transformed into their full demon forms. With the exception of one; opting for his humanoid form so he could be understood by those who didn't speak Dog, Wolf, or Cat.  
  
Sesshyo was wrapped in a black skin cloak, lined with fur on the inside; finger-ing Hyokama's leather grip; pacing impatiently down the wall.  
  
Hinosaiga was strapped over his shoulder, next to his black and gold lacqu-ered bow; and Hyokama hung at his waist. Without noticing he was doing it, he traced a circle on his arm with his claw. He could smell the blood-demons lurking in the forest; their stench was unmistakable. It had been a nearly continual assault on Star Castle for almost ten days; this was the first time they had stopped for more than an hour at a time. Sesshyo glanced down at the line of demons that was barely visible through the trees; then did a double take, spinning and trotting up to the four foot high stone wall that ran along the top of the bigger wall as protection for the lookouts. A high-ranking blood-demon was dragging a small fox-demon forward to the front of the line. Sesshyo recognized him as one of his best spies, sent to learn the blood-demons battle strategies only two days ago. The hideous demon snarled.  
  
"I have your snoop, you dirty-blooded mutt!" he yelled at Sesshyo. "Come and claim him if you don't want his blood spilled all over your lawn!"  
  
Sesshyo clenched his fangs in frustration. The fox, Yahi, had been one of his friend when they were both pups. The blood-demon made a show of flashing his (blood free) knife around Yahi's face, causing the fox to flinch. Sesshyo snarled.  
  
"And who's going to spill it?! You?! Or are you to afraid to get any blood on yourself?!"   
  
"Watch your tone, Mutt, unless you want to shorten the boy's life!"   
  
Sesshyo ducked right que with the end of the other demon's sentence, because right at this time the blood-demon's archers decided for a little target practice and launched several dozen arrows in Sesshyo's direction; all of which missed.  
  
"So?! Not only can't you kill a harmless little fox, you're such a coward you can't even face me yourself; you have your archers shoot at me from the safety of the forest!"  
  
"Who said I wasn't going to kill him?"  
  
Sesshyo cursed under his breath. He hadn't planned on the blood-demon commander to call his bluff; he was hoping to draw the argument out, to buy Yahi some time. The blood-demon laughed. "Time to die little fox."  
  
******  
  
He took his sweet time in tearing Yahi's throat; his incredibly long fang-like teeth could've done it in a second; but he wanted to drag it out, wanted that little Mutt to squirm, and think about all the thing he could've done to save his friend from this painful death. He could see Sesshyo swell up in fury; just what he wanted him to do. Go on, the demon thought. Go on and transform; that dose of poison sickness you got before was just an appetizer, all it need is just a bit more Yoki to feed it, then, then, we shall see who trembles in fear in front of death, Mutt.  
  
Sesshyo's eyes blazed red; his face started to lengthen and his whole body began to glow a bright blue. The blue glow swelled until it was about thirty feet high and when it subsided there stood the huge solid white beast that was Sesshyo's true form. The glowing creatures twin tails lashed around like angry snakes, and it claws dug into the stone. The wolf-cat let out a ground shaking roar and leapt down from the wall to land in front of the demon line.  
  
The demons balked before letting their arrows fly; but, even if they could have actually hurt him, they bounced off his thick, white fur, falling harmlessly to the ground. Why isn't anything happening? the commander wondered; dashing back into the woods, eyes darting everywhere, looking for something. He could hear the sound of his men in battle, every now and then a scream; if Sesshyo could stay in his true form like this for long periods of time, he could slaughter the whole army in two days; but his form was so powerful he could only stay like that for about an hour, after which he was completely exhausted. He would've liked to have seen a battle between Sesshyo and his father, Sessbinshi, while they were in their true forms; that would've been a fight to see! he thought wildly.  
  
Sesshyo would probably have the advantage in a short fight, his speed would give him an advantage there; but if the fight were drawn out Sessbinshi would gain advantage with his greater experience. It would've been close. Now, lets see... ah! There! the demon ran up to a rickety, wrinkled monk, who was so old he stood bent nearly double. He looked up at the demon commander with almost totally blind eyes. "Your poison isn't working, Cho! Sesshyo continues to slay my men at rather alarming rate! You said that the extra energy it took to transform would awaken the poison!" the commander yelled loudly, to make himself heard to the half deaf human.   
  
"Of course it isn't working, you fool. You're a demon you tell me why it's not working." the old man said stiffly.  
  
"Sorry, but whenever I try to think, this big Cat-demon pops into my head; I wonder why..." he snapped sarcastically.  
  
"That is why, you big idiot. No poison in all the land is strong enough to bring down an enraged, fully-transformed demon."  
  
"Most of men could be dead by the time he changes back!"  
  
"Here," the old monk said, handing the commander a small leather pouch.  
  
"Ground up kitsune bones; can change anything back into what it was before.   
  
Throw this in his face and he'll change back."   
  
"Glad to see you're good for something, old man."  
  
******  
  
The demon commander raced toward the huge creature ripping through his men like a cyclone. His timing had to be perfect; if not the creatures jaws would be shredding him well. His boots crunched in the fresh red and white snow, drawing the huge demon cat's attention. He leapt over Sesshyo to land next to the perimeter wall of the castle. "Comere you baka." the blood-demon hissed.  
  
Sesshyo snarled, then raised a huge clawed paw to smush him like an insect.  
  
The commander quickly reached into his cloak and pulled out the pouch; digging his hand in, he drew out some grayish-blue dust. Hope this works, he thought, flinging the powder in Sesshyo's face. It fell across Sesshyo's nose like bluish snow; then, with a 'pop' noise the cat disappeared in a puff of smoke to be replaced by the demon's normal form. It would've been comical if it wasn't for the seriousness of the situation. Sesshyo looked, stunned, at the blood-demon for a second, then, noticing he was being surrounded by snarling demons.  
  
He stepped undividedly back toward the perimeter wall, glancing up to see if anyone was standing there. The blood-demon laughed, drawing his sword and sprinting toward Sesshyo; who leapt upward to land on the top of the perimeter wall. Sia raced up to him; snarling. "You fool! You could've been killed!"  
  
Sesshyo turned and smiled at Sia. "I'm fine." he said, right before he passed out.  
  
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Ok, that chapter was lousy.  
  
I started off Ok, but I had a weekend-long fastpitch softball tournament, and that really messed me up...  
  
I need more reviews! There's no sense in writing this if no ones reading it; please!  
  
You don't even need to make a complete sentence! Just put 'good', 'bad', etc... just click the little link down there, and you'll make my day! 


	10. The Great Southern War

White Fire  
  
White Fire  
  
Chapter 9: The Great Southern War  
  
Sesshyo's world spun, his vision was doubled and blurry, and his head felt like splitting.  
  
He was faintly aware of the blood-demons at the base of the wall keeling over with laughter. Though he was barely conscious, his fierce pride swelled inside him like a explosion. With a savage snarl he leapt up from the ground and leaned over the wall, hurling a knife down toward the laughing demons. "Shut UP!!" he screamed. Flashing his hand around he brought his poison whip snaking down amongst the blood-demon troops. They quieted almost instantly; looking up with stunned, confused faces. The troop commander stared open mouthed at the Dog demon. Sesshyo glared at them, panting heavily. Sia glanced over at the demon lord. His usually bright gold eyes were a pale shade of sickly-looking yellow and were unusually wide. He was panting so hard now Sia was afraid he was going to hyper ventilate. He shuddered, and stepped back from the wall; raising a shaky hand, and running it through his sweat soaked bangs.  
  
"What is wrong with me?" he muttered; turning to the huge wolf-demon. "I-I think I need to go sit down..." he said to Sia.  
  
He began to work his way to the ladder leading down from the wall. Sia watched him for a moment, before turning back to the blood-demons, who were beginning to fall back into formation. "Those accursed humans better get here now."  
  
*****  
  
Sesshyo sat alone on the table in the Great Hall, shaking with fury. His mouth curled into a snarl, and he let out a great 'yowl' noise as he reached across the table and grabbed a glass vase and hurled it across the room, where it shattered against the opposite wall. He commenced with this until every item formerly on the table were in splinters against the walls. He rested his face in his hands,muttering softly to himself. He started, upon hearing a noise of soft footfalls against the stone floor. Looking up, his eyes rested on Katsumi, who was giving him a rather eerie stare. "Not feeling very well, are we?" she purred.  
  
"No, as a matter of fact, I'm not; what would you know about it... anyway?" he finished slowly, looking up incrediously at the girl.  
  
Katsumi simply laughed, twirling a small dagger idly with her right hand. "I know a lot more than you think I do. I'm not stupid."  
  
Sesshyo stared at her for a minute, glaring at her suspiciously. "You're a..." he began; sliding of the table and walking toward her.  
  
"A..." he stammered, reaching his pale hand out toward the child's face.  
  
******  
  
The humans had arrived; and with the Imperial Army one side, and the Southern forces on the other, Sia began to think that maybe they were making some headway with this. Until more blood-demons arrived on the back side of the Imperial forces. Trapped between the two, the human army was slowly being slaughtered. Sia cursed, his teeth flashing trough more enemies; where was that brat, Sesshyo?  
  
******  
  
Sesshyo's hand passed cleanly through the girls 'face'. "...a demon." he finished. She stared icily up at him.  
  
"Yes." she stated simply. "How observant of you." She laughed. "Its been so amusing, watching you run around the castle 'Who did it? They have a spy here, I know it! Maybe its that brainless Sark! Oh, no; maybe it's Sia! Maybe it's Sesshyo himself!' You never thought of looking right under your nose. You almost had the poison beat back in the human village; I had to slip you some more while that old hag wasn't looking. Oh, isn't this perfect! I'll finally be rid of the mortal fool who calls himself my father; the Imperial forces will be crushed; the Southern empire will fall; and you won't even live long enough to witness their defeat. I'll have this entire land to myself; without a worthless fool like you to contest it. This land belonged to my family; then your stupid mongrel father stole it from them! This land is mine! How dare you waltz around here, allowing yourself to even believe you have the power to rule it!"  
  
"Oh, yes; and I suppose a ten year-old can?" Sesshyo snapped weakly; his head was groggy, and Katsumi's rapid-fire speech was making his head spin.  
  
"You really are stupid, aren't you? I'm as much a ten year-old as you are a pureblood. You have a soft spot for children; thus presents the perfect opportunity to regain my family's legacy."  
  
"And your father and sister?"  
  
"In your letter to the General, you simply stated you had his two daughters, you didn't inform him of our age. And my 'sister' is a foolish coward. It was simple enough task to silence her."  
  
"This is all rather hard to take seriously, when spoken by a four foot-tall, ten year-old brat." the demon lord hissed.  
  
"You have no right to call me a brat, you childish, mixed-breed puppy dog. I'm surprised your parents consider you old enough to be let out of the house for fear of you being eaten; oh, yes, I forgot. you don't have any parents, do you?" she laughed cruelly, choking mid-laugh as Sesshyo lunged at her, bring his claws down inches from her face.  
  
"You little baka puppy; how dare you try to strike your master?! We should call the pound on this naughty puppy!" she snarled; springing back a few steps from the Dog demon, and swiftly changing from the form of the small child to her true form of a silver and black haired young woman. she would have been pretty, if not for the cold expression on her face.  
  
"A chameleon. How quaint." Sesshyo snapped, walking slowly around the female demon. Her violently blue eyes followed him; watching him carefully. She smiled evilly. "I know what you're thinking, Sesshyo; you couldn't kill me on your best of days. Trying now will just kill you faster. Of, course... being as you have nothing to lose... you life is ruined; your friends will all die, and your rein has been shredded into a thousand tiny pieces... what would your father think?"  
  
"Shut up, wench."  
  
"You can attack me if that is what you wish," she continued without missing a beat. "If it will make you death any less painful, which, I can assure you, it will not."  
  
"Pain or no, I'll live just to spite you,...Katsumi? Or what really is your name?"  
  
"Being as you're not going to live anyway, it's Dialis."  
  
"Good, I didn't want to not be able to put a name on your tombstone."  
  
******  
  
Sesshyo flashed Hyokama down in an arc, barely missing Dialis's head.  
  
"Here kitty, kitty!" she teased, swinging her hand around and throwing some kind of dart-like blades of ice toward the young demon; they were sharper than knives, and cut easily through Sesshyo's shirt, and digging into his chest and side. One grazed the side of his face, blood streamed from the cut, and Sesshyo furiously wiped his face with his sleeve as the blood was running into his eye.  
  
Dialis laughed at the demons half-red, half-white face; and commenced to hurling more ice blades. Sesshyo ducked under the next round, then muttered a chant, and ran his hand up the side of Hyokama's blade, cutting into his palm. "You seem to like dishing out poison to others, lets see how you like it yourself." he purred. 


	11. Wind and Fire

White Fire  
  
Chapter 10: Wind and Fire  
  
Sesshyo's long sword whipped down across where 'Katsumi' had been seconds before.  
  
His clawed hand followed; slashing across to hit the demon when she side-stepped to avoid the blade. She cried out, jumping backwards; reaching her hand inside her robes and pulling out a red and white fan. "I'll have to step things up a bit." she snarled, unfolding the fan. Sesshyo cocked a quizzical eyebrow. Wait, he knew of someone who used a fan as a weapon...  
  
Of course. Kagura. One of Naraku's many servants. Was Naraku still around? Impossible. Hadn't he been destroyed? No matter. He knew his opponent; defeating her would now be an easy task. Sesshyo flicked Hyokama down in and arc, bringing to life the wicked black flames from which the sword got its power. Kagura laughed, "You think you can destroy me with your pitiful little torch? I'm afraid you are sadly mistaken, Katsumi; or, should I say, Dialis; or, to be more accurate... Kagura." Sesshyo purred. Kagura's eye twitched. "So you know who I am? No matter. It never matters; I can destroy you anyway." Though she spoke with confidence, Sesshyo could tell she was more visibly flustered than before. She growled, swinging her fan back around, bringing up a great burst of wind. "I'll blow out that sword as easily as blowing out a candle!" she screamed, slashing her fan downward at the now charging Sesshyo.  
  
***  
  
As Sesshyo's blade swung out, black flames billowing from it; it did not extinguish like was expected; instead, the fire exploded in Kagura's face; causing her to let out a blood curling shriek.  
  
She collapsed to the ground; smoke rising from her dying body. "... I-I don't understand... the wind should've blown the flame out..." she choked. Sesshyo stared heartlessly down at her. "It would take allot more than that pitiful summer breeze to blow out Hyokama's fire." he said quietly. "With wind an fire, it's all or nothing. Either the wind blows the fire out, or the wind feeds the fire, giving it tenfold the power it started with. Your miniature storm wasn't strong enough to defeat Hyokama, but it was strong enough to give it enough power to defeat you." Sesshyo turned to leave, but whirled back around as he heard Kagura's painful laugh. "You're such a fool; you may have killed me, but I've still won." "What?!" Sesshyo demanded. Kagura laughed again. "Your army is being slaughtered as we speak. The demons from the North, the false Imperial Army... all under my control. If you weren't so young and naive, you would have noticed something was wrong." Sesshyo stared down in horror; yes, of course, it made horrible sense now; Kagura's ease in obtaining the aid of the Imperial Army, and the reason mere mortals, such as they, were having such an easy time defeating full-blooded demons.  
  
"Naraku was in need of a land with plenty of magic in it to suit his plans; and the Eastern Lands are to small; the Western too old and drained; and the Northern lands too unconceivable, there was no way he could challenge the White Wolves before he reached full strength; the Southern Lands suited our plans perfectly. You, barely of age; your people, fox demons and children; there was no way you could defend yourselves. You are easily the strongest creature in this land, yet you are only one; and against Naraku, one isn't enough."  
  
"Witch!"  
  
"Your failure is the greatest disgrace in the history of your family, Sesshyo; what would Daddy think? You should be glad he's not alive to witness your failure." And with that Kagura's head dropped and the life fled her broken form.  
  
Sesshyo couldn't move, he couldn't do anything. The pain of his wounds were nothing compared to the wound in his heart. A failure? But... a failure? A disgrace? It couldn't be... but it was. He knew that every word the dead lady demon spoke was true. He was a failure. Not a single demon in his clan had ever lost a claimed realm in less than a hundred years war; he had lost his in less than twenty days. He was miserable. He was a failure... and nothing could be done to change that; he was immortal, he would remember this horrible day for the rest of eternity.  
  
***  
  
He knew he should go outside to see if any of his army still stood; but he already knew the answer. No one would be left once he reached the gate. The smell of blood and death was strong enough to make him sick; there must've been thousands dead... there was no one left but Naraku's forces...  
  
He drug himself to his feet and slid ghostlike out of the main hall into the courtyard. Naraku's demon army and Kagura's soulless zombies turned to stare at him. A slow snarl ran through the forces, and the turned to walk slowly toward the white-haired demon. Sesshyo's arms hung limply by his sides, and his hair hung down over his face, hiding his tortured eyes. The were thirty feet away when Sesshyo suddenly looked up, his eyes burning red with hatred and blood lust. His face cracked into a painful smile, which slowly turned into a cruel, blood-freezing laugh. "Come!" he challenged. "Come if you wish to die!" he laughed, swinging his hand around to rest on the gray grip of Hinosaiga.  
  
The demon's hesitated for a second then slowly began to move forward once again. Sesshyo stopped laughing and smiled coldly. The usually cold sword grip was hot in his hand; the sword feeding off his blood thirsting soul, the wicked blade preparing itself for an attack of such magnitude, it would look make Tetsusaiga look like no more than the weapon of child for killing bugs. Sesshyo set his feet, then ripped the red-glowing blade from its sheath.  
  
***  
  
Even Sesshyo would have been surprised at the magnitude of the attack, if he had been conscious enough to notice. His demon blood was boiling like a stormy sea on the sun.  
  
Hinosaiga felt like it exploded from the force of the attack when it left the sheath; the substantial casing that had controlled the horrible weapon's power so far, cracked from the overwhelming power that was exerted on it as the sword began the attack. A fiery blade of youki hatred in visible form; a hundred feet long, the blade of light exploded across the battlefield like a tsunami; the shock wave disintegrating everything from bodies to the seventy-foot high perimeter wall. The huge wave carried far past the grounds of the castle, cutting down the entire thousand acre forest; cleaving a canyon through the middle of the great lake, causing the waters on either side to swell into two huge tidal waves going away from the cleft in the middle; the blade didn't stop until it sliced into the Silver Mountain, cutting of its top. The blade had traveled a distance of half a mile; gouging a crater forty feet deep in the ground where the quarter-mile wide blade had passed; and leaving Naraku's entire ten-thousand man army lying face-down, dead, in the mud.  
  
This had taken all of five seconds. In five seconds all of Silver Valley was destroyed.  
  
***  
  
Sesshyo sat on the edge of the blood-filled fountain in the center of the destroyed courtyard for a long time; the exhausted Hinosaiga lying in his lap. The sword didn't object to being handled right now, though Sesshyo wished it would do something, lash out, burn the hand that held it, like it usually did. But nothing. It just laid there. The fair-faced demon turned to look up at the great castle for which this entire area had been named. Once its bright silver walls had gleamed in the morning sun; now they were black with smoke at the top, black with blood at the bottom. Once Sesshyo had looked up at this place and called it home, upon returning from a journey, upon coming over the ridge in to the valley, the first thing you would see would be the bright red and gold banners flying at the tops of the towers. Now those same towers were crumbling, threatening to fall back down on the very castle they had graced. All this ruin, in only twenty days... It was incomprehensible to the mind of the young demon, nay, impossible.  
  
There was nothing left for him here. Sesshyo sheathed Hinosaiga and began his lonely journey down the road to nowhere.  
  
***  
  
The skies were dark when the other white-haired dog demon appeared, Sesshyo knew without even looking that it was a member of his own family. He knew without asking why he was here. It had been four days since Sesshyo left the smoldering ruin of the court of the Southern Lands; in reality the listless demon had been expecting the elder much sooner. But he was here now. Sesshyo stared at the ground for a long time, until he felt the elder's patience beginning to wear thin. Slowly Sesshoumaru's almost identical brother looked up into the face of his great uncle; the passer of judgement to all members of the dog-demon clan. Listless, dull, blank gold eyes looked at the stern, cold face peeering back at him. The demon was much taller than he was; he had to look up almost two feet to look him in the face; and after four days of endless walking with him head hung so low it was almost resting on his chest, it made his neck hurt to look up. The huge demon glared at him, then spoke. "You have failed Sesshyo."  
  
***************************************  
  
Ah! Sorry it sooooo long to update!  
  
Please forgive!  
  
I've been busy with my web-comic and kinda, well, (looks around embarassed) forgot about White Fire...  
  
Don't hurt me! I've already got another chapter almost finished! 


	12. Scars That Never Heal

White Fire  
  
Chapter 11: Scars That Never Heal  
  
He turned to pear at the group that had been with him for six faithful years.  
  
The had been with him as they sought the Shikon Jewel, battled demons, faced the devious Naraku, and argued and bickered among each other.  
  
Still, they were friends; they always had been, they always will be.  
  
Inuyasha watched Shippo flirting with his new girlfriend; a young fox demon who was annoying everyone else to death. Shippo let the girl walk all over him, she was to flirty to really care about Shippo; but the gang was going to let Shippo enjoy himself for a little longer before they broke the news to the thirteen-year old Kitsune. Kagome and Sango sat chatting by the river as Miroku played with his three-year old son, Ryu.  
  
Though they usually stayed back in Kayede's village now; they had begun to realize that the missed going on journeys as they did when they were hunting the shards of the Shikon jewel. The now half-demon Kagome rocked the little Sasaki in her lap. Sasaki had gold eyes and white hair like Inuyasha, but her face looked like Kagome's. She also had the same stripes as Sesshoumaru... or maybe... Sesshyo. Inuyasha had forgotten about his other brother until just that moment... yes, they did look more like the fire-cat's redder, longer stripes. Weird. As he sat pondering his thoughts were interrupted by a crying Sasaki.  
  
Not more crying... does she ever shut up? Inuyasha wondered. Though he loved his daughter he got sick of the eighteen-month old child crying... to bad she wasn't as well behaved as Sesshoumaru's little accomplice, Rin. How old was she now? Fourteen? Fifteen? Something close to that... and why wasn't Sasaki shutting up?  
  
Usually Kagome could make her be quiet in only a minute... she only cried like this when Sesshoumaru or any other assorted demons were around. Kayede said that she had strong demon-sensing abilities, so she cried when she sensed them because she was to young to know that the evil aruas she sensed were not in the least bit interested in harming her. Inuyasha sniffed around. It was a demon all right, pretty close too... the scent was vaguely familiar, but his sense of smell was impaired after Kagome somehow convinced him the cut up some garlic to use in the making of some kind of food, that, even though Inuyasha still couldn't smell, was very tasty. He could ask Kagome to see if she recognized it, but she still wasn't as used to identifying individual people by their smells yet, so he couldn't rely to heavily on her. He jumped out of his tree and marched over to Kagome. "Stay here." he ordered; knowing fully well she wouldn't; he wasn't surprised when she got up to follow him, still carrying Sasaki in her arms. Dumb wench, doesn't she know she and Sasaki could get hurt? he thought lamely. There, in reality, was no way a demon could get past Kagome and Inuyasha at the same time. Kagome had been pretty tough (for a human) before; now she was equal in power to most weaker demons; not to mention she also had Inuyasha and Tetsusaiga there as well.  
  
Inuyasha got to the top of the little hill be the river and looked down toward the bank; eyes falling upon Sasaki's object of disturbance. Striped to the waist and standing in water up to his knees, a fairly tall, slender demon with long white hair tied back and braided; he stood motionlessly in the river, staring intently into the clear water. He was facing toward them, and, though he didn't look up, the slight twitch of his cat-like ears, exactly like Inuyasha's, told them that he knew they were here. Inuyasha was just about to storm down to the side of the river and demand what he was doing here, when a slight tremor ran through the lean muscle of the pretty demon's arm, his eyes narrowing into concentration, and, without any warning, his hand shot under the water, coming back with a rather large fish. His red-striped, clawed hand grasped the dog-sized fish by the tail, and swung it over his shoulder. He leapt out of the water in one graceful jump, landing on the bank by a campfire with a spit set up over it. Not turning even looking at Inuyasha and his mate, yet never actually not looking at them, he sat down facing toward them, set the fish on a rock, and began cleaning it. Inuyasha stared dumbfounded at the demon for a second, stammering, "Hey! What do you think you're doing?" "Having lunch. You want some?"  
  
His voice was silky and regally feline; it was formal and rich like Sesshoumaru's, but with the faintest twinge of cockiness to it.  
  
"No, I do not want any of your nasty fish! I asked you a question, and I expect you to answer it!"  
  
The pale demon sighed. "Inuyasha, are you really that stupid, or have you gone blind in your old age?"  
  
Inuyasha gaped. "Sesshyo?"  
  
"Of course it is, stupid." Sesshyo said rather impatiently.  
  
"Your other brother?" Kagome said quizzically. "... But what are you doing here? Aren't you the lord of the Southern Lands? Shouldn't you be back ruling your lands?"  
  
Sesshyo had been carefully skinning the scales from the huge fish with a sharp dagger. As Kagome started to ask about the Southern Lands the knife slipped down the fish and sliced into Sesshyo's other hand, causing blood to ooze from the cut. Sesshyo looked down blankly at the bright red blood, gold eyes darkening.  
  
Sesshyo was weak from all the energy he had lost in Hinosaiga's attack, but even if he had had his full strength he wouldn't have tried to prevent the punishment he was about to be dealt. He deserved it; he knew it. He had caused his family great disgrace; this was going to be a relatively minor punishment; Sesshyo, thought, knew he deserved more. His uncle paced around him like a predator looking for the best angle of attack...  
  
"Sesshyo?"  
  
Kagome's voice made him snap out of his little bout of deja vu. He turned and smiled at the pair to set them back at ease, then began to suck his bleeding hand. This cut was nothing, it would bleed for a few minutes, and the scar it would leave would be gone in a week. Inuyasha glared at him until Sesshyo got irritated at his pushy brother, and, forgetting himself, turned to glare back at Inuyasha. Inuyasha remembered Sesshyo's bright purple and red-gold eyes from before, they seemed to always be laughing at you, knowing something you didn't, or silently mocking you as you tried your best to ignore Sesshyo's intent stare; it had annoyed the hell out of Inuyasha. But this time it wasn't laughter, or even silent teasing. It was... nothing... Sesshyo's eyes were as blank and emotionless as Kikyo's.  
  
"What happened to you?" Inuyasha blurted out. Sesshyo twitched, but this time remembering the knife in his hand, it continued to slowly slide down the fish, removing its silver-blue scales. Sesshyo growled almost inaudibly. "None of your damn business." he snapped.  
  
"It is my business! I bet you'd tell Sesshoumaru; wouldn't you? Stuck up little brat... can't believe I'm related to you..."  
  
"I can imagine..." Kagome muttered, before jumping out of her skin, recovering just in time to keep from dropping the strangely quiet Sasaki. Sesshyo, for no apparent reason, had just kicked the spit over, sending up shower of sparks as it crashed into the fire.  
  
Looking up, she saw Sesshyo was shaking with fury, long demon fangs bared, a low growl deep in his throat; he stood glaring at Inuyasha for almost a minute before his face faded back to the docile expression he had on when they first encountered him. He turned to Kagome and bowed. "I'm sorry if I cause you any inconvenience." he said quietly; then he turned and snagged his black kimono shirt off a rock; finally beginning to make his way toward the forest, leaving his fish behind.  
  
"What did you do?" Kagome demanded.  
  
"Me?!" Inuyasha yelled. "He's the one getting all wacko! Why do you always take somebody else's' side, huh? Why can't you ever be on my side for once, stubborn wench?"  
  
"SIT!"  
  
*crash*  
  
"Ow!"  
  
***  
  
Kagome fought her way through the thick undergrowth, following Sesshyo's scent trail through the woods. She could move faster right now, for she had left Sasaki with Sango and Shippo. She was currently wishing she was as good as Inuyasha was at jumping from tree branch to tree branch; she could move much faster that way, but she usually wound up on the ground when she tried. She just had to hope Sesshyo preferred the same leisurely pace as Sesshoumaru did, compared to Inuyasha's wild speed pace. She stood still, trying to use her still alien Hanyou abilities to listen for Sesshyo. She had almost given up when she heard the noise of a sword striking a tree. Climbing a bit further into the forest, she looked into a clearing in the forest that must've been where Sesshyo lived. There was a cave in the cliff face, the entrance easily big enough for a car to drive into. There was a unlit campfire, and small stream running down the cliff close to the entrance to the cave. Sesshyo stood of to the side of the clearing, unsheathed sword stuck halfway through a large old oak.  
  
Kagome had the idea that he could've easily cut through it if he wanted to, though he appeared to be striking the tree out of anguish, not necessity. As he stood there shivering with the blade of the sword jammed into the tree, Kagome watching him, her jaw dropped. He was crying... not open sobbing or anything dramatic, just a single tear running down his cheek, but it was so utterly shocking she couldn't believe it.  
  
"A big baby, isn't he?"  
  
Kagome whirled on Inuyasha, slapping him so fast that he just sat there stunned.  
  
"What'd I do?!" he snarled.  
  
Hearing Inuyasha's voice, Sesshyo whirled on the pair hiding in the bushes. With one leap he was two feet away from them. Kagome's eyes followed the lines of his left arm, her gaze coming to rest on the sword he held in his clawed grip. She tried to determine which sword it was, but it was no use. She was too unfamiliar with the demon boy's two swords to tell them apart by looks; and, unlike Tetsusaiga; Hinosaiga and Hyokama didn't emit a mystic presence; thus, she was unable to identify them. It could've been just a regular Katana for all she knew.  
  
"Taking up spying as your new hobby?" Sesshyo hissed, barely keeping his voice under control. He turned his head to look at Inuyasha, who was once again giving him that odd look; the one Sesshyo was rapidly losing his patience for.  
  
"Why aren't you back in the Southern Lands, huh?" he quizzed.  
  
Sesshyo opened his mouth, but no words came out; growing rather irritated with this little round of ten questions was he... He snapped his mouth back shut, his fangs coming back together with a click.  
  
"Is it your job to torment me?" Choose your words carefully, distract them from the point, but don't distract them or they'll start quizzing you all over again...  
  
"Is it your job to act like you're better than us? Damn, you're as bad as Sesshoumaru!" Sesshyo smiled inwardly; Inuyasha was a simpleton, it had been easy to divert his attention... but the girl, what was her name? Kagome. That's right. Now what was going to get her off this train of thought...?  
  
"Ahem." Kagome cleared her throat.  
  
Sesshyo almost jumped; looking down at her startled. Think, stupid! "Is that your baby I hear crying?" Oh, great... How lame, she's never gonna fall for that...  
  
"Sasaki?! Could it be another demon?" She spun and dashed off through the bushes, leaving a surprised pair of demons behind her.  
  
***  
  
Kagome came out of the forest next to the bank where Miroku, Sango, Shippo, and the two children were. Sasaki wasn't crying; everything seemed to be in perfect order... but... something... something was wrong.  
  
The breaking of tree limbs behind her made her quickly turn around; and upon doing so, she came face to face with her suspicions.  
  
***  
  
The two brothers glare at each other for a rather long time; their dog ears flattened against their skulls; Sesshyo's tail lashing around behind him.  
  
"You don't like me very much, do you?" Sesshyo finally asked.  
  
"No, I'm afraid I don't'."  
  
"I expected as much."  
  
Inuyasha finally couldn't stand this little confrontation any longer. "Listen!" he yelled. "I don't know what you're up to, but I don't like it! Nothing good ever comes from you and Sesshoumaru; I don't want to be caught up in this little scheme you've going here; so why don't you just beat it!"  
  
"You're afraid for Kagome and Sasaki?" Sesshyo hissed.  
  
Inuyasha didn't answer, but his face said it was true.  
  
"You have nothing to fear from me, Inuyasha. If you had any sense, it would tell you that." And with that he turned away from Inuyasha for the first time since he had encountered them; Inuyasha gave a fleeting glance to Sesshyo's departing back, then did a double take. "Wha...?" he choked.  
  
Sesshyo looked over his shoulder at Inuyasha. "Happy now?" he hissed.  
  
"What is..." Inuyasha didn't get to finish his sentence; for at precisely that moment, a scream echoed through the forest.  
  
***********************************************  
  
Whee! What happened to Sesshyo? What did Inuyasha see that Sesshyo had been trying to hide?  
  
What sort of evil is plaguing Kagome and the others?  
  
Is Sesshyo going to cause trouble?  
  
Will we finally find out why he is so terribly cursed with all this bad luck?  
  
Will I keep this up for days?  
  
Somebody stop me! 


End file.
